I got home tonight to find a delivery from the good souls at Leisure Games, a whole case of the new Savage Encounters D&D minis. Squee, as I believe the kids say these days. It’s my favourite way of getting new minis, as I’m guaranteed all the 8 visibles, and I still get to open up all the randoms in the boxes. I save a few quid too. I open them up one at a time, trying not to look at what’s next in the pile as I do it. Sad, but true.

As usual with DDM, the minis are a mixed bag. There’s the laugh out loud ones, that just look, bizarre I suppose. Check out the Bodak, it looks like it’s hailing a cab. The Greenvise Vine is saying ‘Feed me Seymour!’ And the Minotaur has three fingers on it’s hands like Mickey Mouse?!

Having said that, I guess it comes with the D&D territory really. Also there’s a few stunners in amongst them too. The Adult Gray dragon is awesome, it’s all curled in on itself which makes it look even more menacing. Compare it to the Adult Purple Dragon, whose body is smaller then the Human Outrider’s horse. It looks like the sort of thing a small girl would have in her bedroom.

A personal bugbear (sorry) of mine, why do they insist on putting in the very minis I need for a scenariojust as I finish it? We get a couple of Thunderspire Labyrinth specials in this set, whilst last time out we got Skalmad from Trollhaunt warrens. Odd decision.

My overall favourite? It’s my blog so I’m going to pick 3. The Gray Slaad is really well painted and it has table presence despite only being on a medium base. It could stand in for a host of other monsters too, a nice bonus. Second, the Skeletal Tiefling, whose pose actually makes it look like it’s shambling forward. Lastly, the Cyclops Skeleton, which is the best paint job of the bunch. It’s also got the most play value, I can see it being the centrepiece of many encounters, yet also being one of the crowd in a paragon tier minion fest.